Anne Thomas

How does a student get a 4.11 GPA and near perfect A-C-T and S-A-T scores? A passion for learning. Madison High School senior Anne Thomas has that passion and wins the United Dairymen of Idaho Distinguished Student Award.

Ann isn’t our first Distinguished Student to be a part of the Madison High School Symphony Orchestra. It seems there’s often a correlation between music and academic success.

“I like playing with a group,” Anne said. “I like creating something with all those people and being able to share something with all of the audience.”

High school classes and teachers can have an impact on students, and that’s what happened to Anne.

“I took a special environmental solutions class where we got to go into the mountains where we got to test streams – that was really amazing,” Anne said.

That class reinforced Anne’s desire to study ecology and become a forest ranger.

“I really love nature and I thought that would be a really good career – I’d always be able to appreciate and enjoy nature and I’d be able to help others enjoy it,” Anne said.

Anne’s amazing academic success comes from her attitude about learning.

“In school I really love learning and that motivates me to do my best and really try and get the most that I can out of school,” Anne said.

If all high school students can gain that enthusiasm Anne has, she feels they will be successful too.

“I would tell them that they should really value the things they are learning and not feel like they’re just going through the motions,” Anne said.” They should try to really get something out of their classes.”